


A Captain and His Ship

by lebedeinetraume



Category: To the Ends of the Earth
Genre: Age of Sail, Gen, Sailing, tall ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lebedeinetraume/pseuds/lebedeinetraume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was only one man who believed that the old, cumbersome ship was ever worth anything more than mockery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Captain and His Ship

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of this story! The characters and the setting belongs to William Golding, author of "To the Ends of the Earth". I am making no money off of this nor do I ever intend to! The story is set in an alternate universe where after the death of his godfather, Edmund follows Charles Summers across the oceans on various adventures until they reach England.

She was gone.

Gone forever.

Forever lost… he had had her, nursed her back to health, witnessed her ruin at the hand of pirates but given hope of renewal upon reaching Plymouth. Now where was she? All of those long days of enduring the cold sea water that came in endless supply during the repairs pained the heart of Charles Summers as he gazed through the rain into the harbour at the very spot where the great wonder of life had come to an abrupt and tragic end. A week had passed since the fire and being bed-ridden the entire time had kept him from his troubled thoughts, but as he sat next to the window, his arms folded on the ledge and his gaze forlorn, nothing but agonised despair filled his heart. Though Edmund had wrapped a blanket affectionately around his shoulders and offered quiet encouragement in the form of, ‘She outlived everyone’s expectations.,’ Charles could not find reprieve from his grief.

The ill-fated ship was never going to win at beauty or even speed for her constant state of decay meant frequent repairs and adjustments. Edmund had generously donated some money into the beautification of the forlorn little ship, which had made it look better than when Charles had first seen it, but overall, the clumsy ship was often the subject of much amusement onshore. It was never something that Charles had ever been embarrassed about, for she was still his ship. In this time of peace how many captains could say that they even had a ship of their own?

She was his. His to command and his to care for. And how he had cared for her! Every repair had been a labour of love and though he had many men for the task of fixing the ship, Charles had spent much of his time amongst them, working well into the evening. It was no wonder that his illness had all but crashed down upon him, raking him as though he himself were the ship pitted against a much larger, more capable vessel. As he fell into sickness his ship burnt in the harbour and as the fires consumed her, so the fires ravaged him.

Everyone had been so understanding of Charles when, in a fit of madness, he tried to get into a boat to try and save her. It was sheer folly to attempt a rescue of anything but the vessels that were of true worth but of Charles’s ship, it was of no value and better put to rest. They, the other captains and officers, had looked on with refrained mirth whilst Charles fought with everything in him to reach her. He could only recall the moment when Edmund had pressed him onto the wet ground, pinning him there with all of his strength to keep him from getting up.

‘She’ll have you too, she’ll have you too!’

Those had been the words that Edmund had yelled at him, shouted, implored… wept. Yes, Charles could remember the pain in his friend’s eyes and the tenderness that Edmund had shown him during the week. Edmund knew nothing of the pride in being a captain of a ship nor did he seem disposed to. The ship had often been a joke of his and even now as Charles slowly recovered from being so ill, Edmund remained in light spirits about it. It would seem that the only concern he ever had for the ship lay in the life of his only true friend. It was nothing more than that. Edmund FitzHenry Talbot did not cherish the notion of a bond between man and ship. It was just a tool, nothing more.

Charles shivered and drew the blanket tighter to himself. Though he had commanded a few ships himself during the war, they had never been his own and he had always been sent straight back to his captain, awaiting the day where he’d get his very own command. There would be even less chance of him getting another ship now. Young men, more men of favour, would always get their commands. Men like him were better left to disappear with their ship. Tears moistened Charles’s cheeks and he let out a slow, mournful sigh as he dropped his head into his folded arms still resting on the ledge of the window. Broken by grief and worn by exhaustion, Charles rubbed his tears into the blanket and let his weighted heart despair once more.

She had been very old, very troublesome and ugly, but she had been his ship. His only ship.


End file.
